By Elizabeth Goldman
Editor-in-Chief
The 11th and most recent set of negotiations between the Manhattan Beach Unified Teachers Association (MBUTA) and the Manhattan Beach Unified School District (MBUSD) occurred on Monday to discuss the teachers’ contract that expired last year.
According to Costa English teacher and union President Shawn Chen, the negotiations have focused primarily on safety, class size, complaints, terms of leave, salary and the academic calendar as well as teachers’ schedules at Manhattan Beach Middle School (MBMS). These issues are currently being discussed because the MBUTA contract recently expired; each new contract is validated for a set amount of time, and when the contract expires, they continue under the same agreement until negotiations begin, according to history teacher Aaron Kofahl.
“We are working to settle a fair contract; we’re talking about everything ranging from safety to how teachers can use their allotted sick days and personal necessity days,” said Kofahl. “I think the climate is generally frustrating; a lot of folks are expressing that they feel undervalued or underappreciated, [and] there are some sad and scary economic realities setting in for a lot of our teaching staff.”
MBUTA is advocating for MBMS teachers to teach five out of seven classes, on par with the standard for Mira Costa High School (MCHS) teachers, instead of the current standard of six classes. At this time, MBUTA and MBUSD have reached a Memorandum of Understanding, agreeing that MBMS teachers will be responsible for five out of seven classes in the next school year. Additionally, MBMS teachers will vote on whether the schedule will remain as is or be converted to two days of blocked and three days of stacked classes.
“What [MBUTA] is most happy about is the agreement at the middle school. We’ve been trying to find a way to make it a more effective instructional environment, and we really feel [this] could help the district overall [and be more] equitable with the high school,” said Chen. “[Six classes] is a lot of kids to see in one day, and we think it really impacts the educational environment.”
According to Chen, the district has given MBUTA its last, best and final offer of a 6% raise on the pay schedule and a 1% raise off the pay schedule, or a one-year 1% raise in addition to a 6% permanent salary increase. The next steps in this process will be to enter the impasse phase in which MBUSD will hire an outside factfinder to investigate whether the claims that MBUSD has offered are its best and most feasible, according to Chen.
“In 2019…[MBUSD] said that by [the 22-23 school year, they] were going to be…deficit spending [and] $2,500,000 [in debt], but when you look at this year, [MBUSD] started with $14 million,” said Chen. “[This year, they are predicting that] in 2024, they’re going to be a million dollars in [debt] again, [but] basing it on this historical inaccuracy with their projections for the future, it seems like [they] don’t actually know what’s going to happen in the future. I’ve been the union president for 12 years– for three [four-year] cycles– and every time it’s like this.”
Additionally, MBUTA is advocating for an updated academic calendar allocating for professional development days that are less disruptive to student schedules, according to Chen.
“We really want professional development days during the school year…so instead [of students having multiple subs while teachers are in professional development], we’d rather have a day [for professional development] in the schedule where [students] don’t come to school,” said Chen.
According to Chen, articles 10 and 11 of the current contract, regarding complaints and leave, were opened by MBUSD but have since been withdrawn. MBUTA is also bargaining for altered wording in articles five and six, regarding safety and class size, respectively, according to Chen.
“We’re making progress,” said Chen. “[Regarding] class size, we [previously] had a measure in [the contract] previously that was designed to inspire them to hire enough teachers to make class size the right size [which is an average of 31 students]; instead, it just increases our class size and pays us if we go over, and we really don’t want that.”
MBUTA and MBUSD have their next bargaining session scheduled for June 2. According to Kofahl, MBUTA’s overarching goal is to foster an appealing working environment for current and prospective teachers.
“We have another session scheduled, and the plan is for it to be a half-day session,” said Kofahl. “We very rarely have this many bargaining sessions; they’re usually wrapped up faster than this, [so] I hope all of this is pointing towards probably nearing a final [agreement].”
According to MBUSD public information officer Hibah Samad, the district is unable to provide specific information. However, more information will be released today in MBUSD’s Superintendent’s Newsletter.
“MBUSD and MBUTA are currently in negotiations,” said Samad. “The District wishes to reach an agreement with MBUTA. The next steps involve continuing to meet at the bargaining table.”
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